Makarieva A.M., Gorshkov V.G., Pujol T. (2003)
Height of convective layer in planetary atmospheres with condensable and non-condensable greenhouse substances. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 3, 6701-6720.
Abstract
Convection reduces greenhouse effect by transporting a certain amount
of non-radiative dynamic energy to the upper atmosphere, where this
energy dissipates and radiates into space without interaction with
greenhouse substances in the lower atmosphere. In this paper we show
that the height of the convective layer zc is
finite and independent of atmospheric optical thickness ts at large values of the
latter. We derive an analytical formula for zc at
large values of ts
for condensable and non-condensable greenhouse substances. The
formula obtained yields reasonable quantitative estimates of the
observed height of convective layer on Venus and at low latitudes on
Earth, where atmospheric thickness of water vapor is maximum. The
dissipative power of dynamic convective processes is limited by the
incoming flux of solar radiation. Height of convective layer being
finite, values of optical depth at the top of the convective layer
and at the mean height of convective energy dissipation increase
proportionally to the atmospheric optical thickness, while the
contribution of convective energy fluxes to formation of the outgoing
flux of thermal radiation proportionally diminishes. As far as
optical thickness of condensable greenhouse substances grows
exponentially with increasing surface temperature, the obtained
results lead to the conclusion that the outgoing thermal radiation
into space in the presence of convection tends exponentially to zero
with increasing surface temperature, instead of reaching a finite
plateau as suggested by earlier radiative-convective studies.
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